Hopper or similar car construction



P 1951 w. F. DIETRICHSON I ,567,766

HOPPER OR SIMILAR CAR CONSTRUCTION Filed July 30, 1948 INVENTOR WILLIAM E DIEM/655017 BY 6 8M 20 WTTORNEY Patented Sept. 11, 1951 OFFICE" HOPPER OR SIMILAR CAR CONSTRUCTION William F. Dietrichson, Garden City, N. Y., as-

signor to American Car and Foundry Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 30, 1948, Serial No. 41,532

This invention relates to lading carrying car construction and particularly to improved means for supporting and reinforcing the floor sheets at the portions thereof adjacent the bolster in hopper and similar railway cars.

In conventional hopper or similar car structure the floor sheets are either directly secured to the top plate of the supporting bolster or to a reinforcing splice plate which is rigidly secured at its marginal edge portions both to the floor sheets and to the bolster. This arrangement results in a sharp rigid supporting edge beneath the floor immediately adjacent the sides of the bolster. The impact and pounding of the lading against the floor sheets during loading, and shifting thereof when the car is in transit, frequently causes them to crack and break due to the shearing forces set up by the weight of the lading. Further, in the case of welded structures, these shearing forces also often cause fractures in the welds which weaken, if not destroy, the connection between the floor sheets, reinforcing plate and bolster.

2 Claims. (01. 105249) It is an object of this invention to provide reinforcing means for hopper or similar carflo-or provide a resilient yieldable support therefor at the sides of the bolster.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a reinforcing splice plate as above described which is secured to the bolster and floor sheets intermediate its side marginal portions which extend beyond and overlap the side edges of the top of the bolster and resiliently reinforce the floor sheets in this area. 1

A further object of the invention is to provide a reinforcing splice plate as above described having its side marginal edge portions rolled downwardly away from the floor sheets to form rounded edges providing increased resilient bearing surfaces for the normally unsupported area of the floor sheets adjacent thereto when deflected under shearing stresses thereby relieving concentration of the stresses and preventing breaking of the floor sheets.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of one end of a conventional hopper car embodying my invention, certain parts being broken away to more clearly disclose other parts.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional View through the car bolsterand sloping floor sheets showing the invention applied thereto.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Referring now more in detail to the drawings, the invention is shown as applied to a conventional hopper car one end of which is generally indicated at 4, having side walls 6, an end wall 8, and bolster l0. Sloping floorsheets I2 having curved'side marginal edge portions M are secured by welding or otherwise to the inner faces of the side and end Walls and incline downwardly toward the center of the car over the bolster ID to a hopper discharge outlet 16. The bolster I0 is supported on and welded to a center sill assembly l8 which in-turn is supported on a body center'plate 20 at each end of the car, as is customary. The body center plate 20 rests on the truck center plate (not shown), the latter being part of a truck only schematically shown at 22. The upper portion of the bolster H] is turned inwardly toward the center of the car so that its top plate 24 is inclined at the proper angle to support the sloping floor sheets I2. The bolster I0 is stiffened and reinforced at opposite sides of its center line 25 by gusset plates 26 and at its central portion immediately below the top plate 24 by a similar gusset 28.

A floor reinforcing splice plate member 30, of spring or similar resilient metal and of greater width than the bolster top plate 24, is secured thereto by welds 32 along the side edges of the bolster top plate. This floor reinforcing splice plate member is of such width that its marginal side edge portions 34 extend beyond and overhang the side edges of the bolster top plate 24 in underlying bearing relation with the floor sheets. The edges of side marginal edge portions 34 of the reinforcing splice plate member 30 are curved or bent downwardly away from the bottom of the floor sheets I2 as indicated at 36 to provide what may be termed a soft or rounded edge. The floor sheets l2 are butt or seam welded together at their meeting edge portions and to the upper face of the reinforcing splice plate member 30, as indicated at 38, thus securing the sloping floor sheets I 2 on the bolster ID. The connection between these parts is such that the side marginal edge portions 34 of the reinforcing splice plate member 30 extending beyond the side edges of the bolster top plate 24 are free of connection with the bottom of the floor sheets l2. These side marginal portions, therefore, not being rigidly fixed possess a certain amount of resiliency due to the inherent resiliency of the spring metal plate, permitting the floor sheets to yield upon being subjected to shearing forces due to impact of the lading in the car. It will be seen that the floor sheets 12 in the area immediately adjacent the rolled edges 36 are normally unsupported, but that the rolled edges provide increased resilient bearing surfaces for the floor sheets in that area when the latter are deflected under shearing stresses, thus relieving concentration of the stresses and preventing cracking of the floor sheets.

In assembly of the parts, the edges of floor sheets l2 that are to be joined are first butt welded together and in the same operation also welded to the upper face of reinforcing plate member 30. This sub-assembly is then applied in place over the bolster with the curved side marginal edge portions of the reinforcing plate overlapping the side edges of the bolster top plate, after which it is welded to the bolster top plate at the side edge portions of the latter.

While the invention has been shown and described in connection with a railway hopper car it will be understood that it may be applied with equal advantage to other types of cars such as dump and ballast cars and also generally 'to lading carrying vehicles. The invention may be modified in various respects as will occur to those skilled in the art and the exclusive use of all modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. In a hopper car having a bolster and a floor sheet extending thereover, a spring metal bearing plate interposed between and rigidly secured intermediate its side portions to the top of said bolster and to said floor sheet, the side portions of said spring metal plate extending beyond the sides of the top of the bolster in overhanging relation thereto and in underlying bearing relation with said floor sheet whereby to resiliently cushion shearing stresses imposed against the floor sheet over thearea where it bears thereon, said overhanging plate side portions having rounded marginal side edge por tions providing increased resilient bearing surfaces for the normally unsupported floor sheet in the region adjacent thereto when deflected under shearing stresses thereby relieving concentration of such stresses against said region of the floor sheet.

2. In a hopper car provided with a bolster having a sloping top and a pair of sloping floor sheets extending thereover, a spring metal splice plate overlying and welded intermediate its side portions to said bolster top along the sides thereof, said sloping floor sheets having their meeting edges welded together and welded to said splice plate, the side portions of said spring metal splice plate extending beyond the sides of the top of the bolster in overhanging relation thereto and in underlying bearing relation with said floor sheets whereby to resiliently cushion shearing stresses imposed against the floor sheets over the area where they bear thereon, said overhanging plate side portions having their marginal side edge portions rolled downwardly to provide increased resilient bearing surfaces for the normally unsupported area of the floor sheets adjacent thereto when deflected under shearing stresses thereby relieving concentration of such stresses against said area of the floor sheets.

WILLIAM F. DIETRICHSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,950,001 Gilpin et al Mar. 6, 1934 2,020,391 Wine Nov. 12, 1935 2,309,389 Goodman Jan. 26, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 3,560 Great Britain of 1873 OTHER REFERENCES Ketchums Structural Engineers Handbook by Milo S. Ketchum; 3rd edition enlarged, 1924, published by McGrawHill Book Co. N. Y. (3., N. Y. Page of the tables showing Table 64, properties of one channel and one I-beam. (A copy of this book is found in Div. 33 of the Patent Oflice.) 

